What Makes a Desktop looks good

In this post I will explain what, in my opinion, makes a desktop productive and good looking.

    Space and arrangement
    Easy Access to current working windows
    Easy Access to Computer Status
    Good looking Wallpaper that makes the window focus better

1-
This is an important thing to a desktop. People with a desktop full of thousand of icons always gets messed up, and they are "supposed" to simplify existence when in fact it's not at all. People should reconsider all that mess wandering on their desktop, clean what is not important, put everything related into a specific folder ( let's say all videos in a folder, all work related file inside another folder ) and then put all those folders into one main Folder inside your home/document directory. Now there's nothing left on your desktop other than the "must have".
It's always a good idea put your important data into a separate drive or partition or your disk in case of crash, so in our case you can simply move "The big Folder" into this exact drive/partition.
Note, that you can also reconsider your Window Manager/Desktop Environment.
2-
It's really annoying to always have to move around a lot to access your working windows. I don't really know how to explain that but everybody have a way to switch from one window to another. Some likes key-binding some likes to click a bar, some likes to have a dock. Choose your own favorite way and get used to it because your working flow depends on it.
3-
You should always have control over your machine no matter what and there's a lot of program that can simplify the management. For example you can use conky, a lightweight system monitor that can display everything that can be displayed in a terminal (for *nix os only). The equivalent on windows is called rainmeter, however it's a little more poewr consuming . With conky and some little scripting you can easily get to see what you want, example: time, battery status,cpu,ram,network, hdd,processes , weather, a todo list, emails(Hotmail) and  packages upgrade.
4-
This one is a matter of taste. (or maybe not)
Wallpapers from digitalblasphemy.com are original and full of color.
wallbase.cc have some awesome minimalism wallpaper of great quality.
subtlepatterns.com have the best tiling wallpapers ever.
Tiling wallpapers are good for your workflow because they make you focus more on the window you are working on. (add a little depth)

This conclude this post.
Thank you for reading.
(Venam)

Pollution is destroying our Planet

Humans are killing themselves and their own planet because of pollution. Pollution is a big problem nowadays; it is the cause of human negligence to the environment. According to experts, pollution is a major problem which should be dealt with as soon as possible or the consequences could be disastrous. In Lebanon, the least ecological country, pollution is a grave problem. It has effect on the environment, the ecosystem (fauna and flora) and on human health.

  One of the effects of pollution is on the environment. Because of pollution, the air that we breathe contains more deadly particle than clean air. For example, because of cars, there is more Nitrogen and Carbone in the air than there should be. Also, water is not clean. Due to industrial plants scattered around the Lebanese coast, the water quality is degrading. Studies have shown recently a high concentration of oil in the sea in Lebanon. The water in the rivers is also heavily polluted and needs a lot of treatment to be drinkable which ruins the quality. Finally pollution affects the Lebanese soil. Polluted soil directly affects human health through direct contact with soil or via inhalation of soil contaminants which have vaporized.

  Another effect of the pollution is on the ecosystem (fauna and flora). Trees are growing sick because the earth they grow in the polluted and the water they drink is not clean. Forests are dying because of pollution. Chemicals infiltrate the soil which can change the mineralogy of the earth. These changes can manifest in the alteration of metabolism of endemic microorganisms and arthropods resident in a given soil environment. The result can be virtual eradication of some of the primary food chain, which in turn could have major consequences for predator or consumer species. Even if the chemical effect on lower life forms is small, the lower pyramid levels of the food chain may ingest alien chemicals, which normally become more concentrated for each consuming rung of the food chain. This will affect animals on the ground as well as fish in the sea; eradication of complete species. Pollution affects everything on earth.

Ultimately, pollution has an impact on human health. Degradation of the quality of the air we breathe causes lung cancer. Doctors in Lebanon have noticed that the people in zouk living near the power plant have higher probability of developing lung cancer than people in Metn. Because humans are at the top of the food chain, they are particularly vulnerable to the effects of non-degradable pollutants. This was clearly illustrated in the 1950s and 1960s when residents living near Minamata Bay, Japan, developed nervous disorders, tremors, and paralysis in a mysterious epidemic. More than 400 people died before authorities discovered that a local industry had released mercury into Minamata Bay. This highly toxic element accumulated in the bodies of local fish and eventually in the bodies of people who consumed the fish. Finally Pollution destroys the ozone layer in the atmosphere thus making it easier for UV to reach the ground which will increase the probability of developing skin cancer.

Without a doubt, pollution is killing everything around. It has effect on the environment, the ecosystem and the human health. To conclude, society should go green and stop polluting in order to stop this ecological genocide.

Facebook: The hidden truth

Facebook recently hit the billion, since 2010 when it had "only" 600 million of people privacy has changed a lot on Zuckerberg's site. Here are some 100% real facts that Facebook is hiding from you!

• Facebook is not your friend. Its "real name" policy is enough reason to refuse to use it.
• Facebook makes a practice of telling users to rat on their friends who use aliases. ( any social network that asks its members for information about other people is abusive.)
• At Facebook you are a product, not a consumer.
• Facebook says that a user can't have Facebook's data about him claiming it to be a trade secret.
• Pages that contain Facebook "like" buttons enable Facebook to track visitors to those pages. Facebook tracks the users that see 'like' buttons,
• Facebook exploits its users by conscripting them for ads.
• Facebook's face recognition is illegal as claimed by a German regulator.
• Facebook blocked links to the humor site lamebook which facebook is trying to crush.
• Social networks show people how lonely they are
• Facebook deleted a statement by a human rights group, then said that was a mistake. Then Facebook invited the group to post the statement again instead of undoing the deletion. Demonstration of it's arrogance! 
• Facebook censorship guidelines have been leaked. They include political censorship catering to various countries that do not respect freedom of speech.
• Facebook has turned on automatic face recognition on photos. Facebook says that it only suggests identifications for faces in photos for people who are the user's friends. However, it might run the algorithm over every photo posted and not publicly announce the results.
• Third party apps that demand to access your account's information and your "friends" information and posts. They have access to everything (this is why I don't use third party apps)
• Anyone can get a Facebook user's personal information by buying ads on Facebook.
• People is also known to have blocked many links about controversial issues

That's it. Hope I covered everything. If you have a question leave comment below and I will answer!

Please subscribe!

Copyright: Stallman

Test: iPhone 5

After a month of reading, searching and testing here are my impressions on the new iPhone 5; claimed to be the "best iPhone ever made" by Apple (I will try to be as objective as possible)

Reminder of it's specs:

• Apple iOS 6
• 4" screen with a 1136×640 resolution
• Screen format 16/9, contrast rate of 800:1
• Dual Core A6 processor (1Ghz they say)
• 16, 32 or 64 internal Memory (Still no SD card)
• 1GB RAM
• 8MPx front camera with flash and the panorama function
• 1080p video recording
• 1.2MPx front camera with 720p video recording
• EarPods
• GPS+GLONASS
• Accelerometer+Gyro
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Wif b/g/n dual band
• 4G LTE for the united states
• HSPA+ for the other countries
• Weight 112g

Note: Siri has more functions, we regret the absence of NFC, direct Wifi and USB 3.0

Packaging:
An image is worth a thousand word so here's an image than should make it clear

Design
It is a nice design, very comfortable in hand, it is different from the plastic of the SGS 3 or the hTC One X (you are paying more than 700$ so it is normal)
The screen is 0.5" bigger, merely unnoticeable. While holding it in hand you won't be able to make the difference between it and the 4S. 
It is very light so you are afraid of making it fall 

An image of the new outlet called Lightning

Note that it has a special device that recognize if the cable is an official one or not. 
The screen color are just as they should be, not over colored like an AMOLED screen (though I like it)

Sound? Just 2 speakers like the 4S with a better sound quality. 
The earpods are better than what Apple used to give us for years, more bass but not worth 30$.
The "semi-intra" design of the EarPods is comfortable but will hurt you on the long term (I didn't like them much)

Battery? Just like the 4S, can't last a day. If you use it heavily (video, internet, browsing) it will run dry at approximately 6PM.

Conclusion: 
It is a good phone, but deceiving because it could have been a way better phone. The iPhone 5 is what the 4S should have been. For Mr Everybody this is the perfect phone, but for Geeks you will find what makes you happy with the some more customizable phone like on Android.

Awaiting the new Nexus to come and the New Nokia Lumia.
Stay tuned and subscribe!

Living in Lebanon or Abroad?

Lots of people quit Lebanon. Since the end of the civil war, the immigration number just kept rising until now without stopping. Some people were cursing life abroad while others were praising it. There are three major differences between living in Lebanon and living abroad on the economical level, social level and the political level.

One of the differences between life in Lebanon and life abroad resides in the economy.  When talking economy we can state for example Jobs. There are fewer jobs in Lebanon than there is for example in the USA. Studies have shown the jobs opportunity is one of the main reasons that drive people out of Lebanon. Another economical difference is the salary. The minimum wage in Lebanon is approximately 700$, while in France, for example, it is 1500$; more than the double! This will attract people who want a better salary and a better life quality. The final economical difference between life in Lebanon and life abroad is the cost of life. In Lebanon food product are very cheap compared to what we may find abroad. However technological items are still considered luxury items in Lebanon while abroad they are everyday life items; thus cheaper.

Another difference between life in Lebanon and life abroad is on the social level. Social implies relations. For example, family relations in Lebanon are still strong; children always care about their parents and grandparents. The same works the other way, parents always look after their children even though they are grown up. However, abroad, these relations tend to disappear. Children don’t know who their grandparents are; parents “kick” their children out of home when they turn 18… Also there is other people’s attitude. Lebanese tend to be heartwarming, welcoming and always seem happy. There is always someone asking about you. On the other hand, people abroad are very cold; they don’t look or care about the other and tend to forget about their own friends as time passes. Finally, we can talk about health care. Health care system is weak, messy, disorganized, chaotic and not even free. On the contrary, in most countries abroad it is well organized, efficient and free. Everybody needs to have health care; the fact that not all of the Lebanese people can afford it is what is what is driving some out of the country.

The final difference between Lebanon and abroad is the politic. Lebanon is known to be politically unstable ever since the civil war, and the situation hasn't changed until now. This is due to massive corruption of the heads of the state. Meanwhile, most countries abroad are politically stable with a very low corruption rate. Politics also could be about military. The Lebanese army is weak. In fact it is so weak that people often have their own weapons and makes their own justice, some people also hide behind their sectarian party just in order to have some kind of protection. Also in Lebanon we notice the presence of heavy armed militia, stronger than the army. Meanwhile abroad, the army is the defender of the justice and the republic. No one can overthrow it nor even lift a single finger on it because they are strong, heavily armed and some even have a nuclear arsenal. Finally politics is about respecting the human rights. In Lebanon human rights are constantly violated. It could be by people as well as politicians who are supposed to be the one to defend it.  For example when using public transports, lots of people smoke inside the bus preventing other people to have the right to breath fresh air. Even though this is the situation in Lebanon, abroad it’s a different story. People stand for their rights, they overthrow their government if they feel like it is going astray, or taking away some of their rights. People abroad respect the law because they know the true meaning of human rights. “Your freedom ends where the other’s freedom begins”, this is a saying that people believe in and always respect.

It is up to each person’s way of life and his vision of reality to judge living where suits him the most. Living in Lebanon and abroad is different on 3 levels: Economical, social and political level.

Steps to quit smoking

Hello all! Long time since I last posted something! So here I am! Back!

My first article since months is going to be about a very sensitive subject: Smoking!
After some research here are the steps to do so... Read carefully and enjoy!

Want to die? Quit reading. Want to live? Then continue reading. According to the American Heart Association, approximately 26.2 million men and 20.9 million women in the United States are smokers. Smoking is well known for its damaging effects to the lungs, skin, heart and brain. The steps to quite are setting a program, joining a support team and for extreme cases Medical therapy

The first step to quit smoking is setting a program. There are many ways to do this, for example one can each month smoke one cigarette less than the last month. This is a long and smooth transition to quit smoking and to feel less frustrated by the desire to smoke. Another way of setting a program is to do activities with family and friends that will keep your mind away from cigarette. Indeed the less you think about cigarette, the less the desire to smoke one will cross your mind. Plus family will always be there to help you because they care about your health. Including family in your program is a big plus in order to stop smoking the death stick. And finally you should include major dietary adjustments. Cleaning up the diet can be a helpful tactic. Often times, smoking is done in conjunction with the consumption of fatty foods and alcohol. Replacing these foods with more nutrient-dense options like fruits and vegetables will help avert you away from smoking.

The next step is to join a support team. When joining a support team you can have access to precious advices from ex-smokers, they will tell you that it is a difficult and long way but they are the proof that it is still possible thus giving you some hope. Also in support team you are in company of people who are in phase of quitting. So that you will know that you are not the only one trying to escape from the evil grip of the cigarette. This is more a psychological effect that helps you and your ego greatly, especially when you feel the urge to smoke. Finally if you are about to have a nervous breakdown and have a cigarette you can always ask someone to take cigarettes away from you so that you won’t be able to give in to temptation.

The final step is a Medical therapy; and it is used for heavy smokers. It could be Acupuncture. In fact acupuncture is one of the oldest known medical techniques, and it is believed to work by triggering the release of endorphins (natural pain relievers) that allow the body to relax. As a smoking cessation aid, acupuncture can be helpful in managing smoking withdrawal symptoms. Another aspect of medical therapy is Nicotine Replacement therapy. This involves "replacing" cigarettes with other nicotine substitutes, such as nicotine gum or a nicotine patch. It works by delivering small and steady doses of nicotine into the body to relieve some of the withdrawal symptoms without the tars and poisonous gases found in cigarettes. This type of treatment helps smokers focus on breaking their psychological addiction and makes it easier to concentrate on learning new behaviors and coping skills. Finally the medical therapy could be a Non-nicotine Medication. This therapy consist of using (absorbing) a substance that will fool your nervous system. There are 2 substances recommended by Doctors. One is called bupropion, it has an effect on the nicotine receptors in your brain through a chemical associated with the pleasure of smoking cigarettes. The other is called varenicline, this medication acts like nicotine and fools the receptors in the brain into believing they’ve already had their dose of nicotine.

Smoking is bad for your health as it takes away years from your lifespan, one should quit smoking by setting a program, joining a support team or by using a medical therapy.

Internet Blackout

From Wednesday 4th July to Friday 6th July Lebanon witnessed an internet blackout on national scale.
This was due mainly to a cut on the submarine cable IMEWE near Egypt that mainly affected all the country that take from the IMEWE but not as much as Lebanon.
Why will you ask? Because Lebanon's internet capacity is 21Gbps, 19Gbps from the IMEWE cable!
Cyprus gently granted us 10Gbps for free for 2 weeks. (Minister of Telecom)

Now back on how the end users were affected, on wednesday from 4pm til 10-11pm ALL the ISP's were out. There was not a single data circulating! When the internet came back, it was slower that dial up... not a single page was opening normally. Google took 3 minutes to open.
On Thursday, the internet was partially back but was very slow. On Friday same thing (I had to use my 3G connection); but on Friday night (when cyprus gave us these 10Gbps) the internet came back to normal.

And finally I would like to thank the Minister for all his effort to get back the Internet to Lebanon!

That's it for today, I'll update you when something new come out!
Stay Tuned and don't forget to subscribe

Android Jelly Bean

Google just released during the Google I/O the new Android called Jelly Bean, here are it's major features

Project Butter is the major new innovation in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, making the entire UI fast, fluid and smooth. The entire interface runs at 60 frames per second and animations are smoother and quicker.

The other big thing is power efficiency. Jelly Bean now dials the CPU back to lower frequency when its not in use.

Jelly Bean comes with an improved Google Voice Search, now spoken by a much more human-sounding voice compared to Siri and S Voice.

The home screen has also been tweaked, adding some nice features like dynamically resizing widgets, widgets that will now automatically resize as you move them across screens.

Notifications get a major revamp with expanded Gmail notifications, multiple notification sizes, and actions to allow you to interact with apps straight from the notification display without needing to open the relevant app.

Notice that compared to iOS 6 it does not bring a lot of features but this is normal because we are jumping from Android 4.0 to 4.1 not to 5.0 so that updates doesn't have to be this much. iOS 6 was a big deception because it did not bring major updates for this big jump (from ios 5 to 6)
Notice how the naming of the version is VERY important


That's it for now hope you enjoyed this summary of the New Android


Likes it? please subscribe
Anything to add? please leave a comment 

[Test] Samsung Galaxy S3

I know lots of you are waiting for a good test about the newest Samsung device, so here is what I found after doing some tests and lots of research (note the direct rival to the SGS III is the hTC One X, iphone 4s can't even compare, waiting for Apple's reaction with the iphone 5)

Lets do a recap of its specs:

• Android 4.0.4 with Touchwiz Nature UX
• Touch screen Super AMOLED HD, 4.8" with a resolution of 1280x720
• Screen with 0.01ms latency
• Quad-Core processor Exynos 4 (1.4Ghz)
• Digital camera 8Megapixel with flash, 3.3fps, auto stabilisation
• Front Camera HD with 1.9Mpix
• Multimedia compatibility with a lot of formal (DivX, Xvid, mkv...) support subtitles
• HSPA+, 4G (for the US)
• WiFi n, WiFi direct, DNLA, Bluetooth 4.0
• Mini HDMI port, GPS+GLONASS, NFC, accelerometer, gyroscope
• 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. Extendable with a Micro SD card
• plastic case with HyperGlass technologie
• 8.6mm thick, dimensions: 136.6x70.6mm
• 133g
• 2100MAh battery

Also we havethe S-Voice, S-Beam, Facial Recognition, Buddy photo share, all share technology (DNLA), Pop Up display, sound equalizer and wireless payment support.

Packaging: 

Really simple like all smartphone packaging. 

Contains: The phone (of course) charger, USB cable, Earphones (hand free kit with a full remote) and the instruction manual

Design:

Well how to put it... it's ugly! Samsung still hasn't abandoned the cheap plastic design. But the HyperGlass technology completely deletes this feeling of "cheapness" created by the plastic which is a smart move by Samsung. Note that you can detach the back and take off the battery if you want (which is not the case of the hTC One X)

Screen:

Perfect, nothing to say! Though I prefer the SLCD of the hTC One X

This Super AMLOED HD screen give superb video effects, reading is very enjoyable and has a slight  unnoticeable preference for the blue

Sound: 

Nice and clear. The speaker is positioned on the upper part of the phone.

  

Use:

It is really nice to use, the TouchWiz interface doesn't change much to the Android interface; on the contrary they complement each others very well

Integration of social networks, and also you can view gallery content (facebook) 

There is a lot to say but I can't write them all so I'm leaving the surprises to you guys hoping you will enjoy them like I did 

A little word about the S-Voice, it is just like Siri but it can understand you better

Performance:

Well obviously with a quad-core everything is more fluid and better, games take less time to load and 1080p videos does not glitch

Here is a chart if you want to compare

Notice how the iphone 4S can't even compare!

That it for today, I will continue with the Camera and the battery later on. For now take care and enjoy the reading

If you like my articles please consider donating by simply clicking on the ads :)

Something to say? Leave a comment

Apple Keynote 2012: iOS 6

Yesterday was Apple's keynote, an event which introduced many product Hardware (mac book) and Software (iOS 6).
I'll do a recap about iOS 6:

iOS 6: The new mobile OS, here are it's most important features:

1. New Maps app; no more Google maps, the new iOS use a dedicated Apple maps with new features such as Flyover (3D view; upper image)
2. New Siri function, quick access to sport results, movies and restaurants recommendation, more language support, availability on the New iPad AND an eye free mode (better handling or your phone while not looking at it) which reminds you of the SGS III
3. Facebook integration to your calendar, contact and notification center (just like hTC Sense)
4. Shared Photos Stream, using iCloud, it permits you to share albums and photos with your family and friends
5.  Passbook, to buy tickets using your iDevice 
6. Guided Access allows for the lockdown of an iOS 6device to limit its use to a single app. The feature disables the Home button and restricts touch input to certain areas of the screen.
7. New iCloud Tabs on Safari
8. FaceTime calls are handled by your mobile provider
9. VIP Mailbox, for your most important email from specific contact
10. Not answer a call by leaving a message

Egyptian Justice

I will be covering the Moubarak trial just to set an example that every dictator has a judgement day coming. At the end of the trial I will tell you what I think about the judgement

Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak arrived on Saturday by helicopter at a court where he will face sentencing over his alleged involvement in the killing of demonstrators.

Mubarak, wearing dark sunglasses, was then transported by ambulance to the courthouse on the outskirts of Cairo, where he was taken inside on a stretcher.

Mubarak, the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six others could face the gallows if convicted of ordering the deaths of some of the estimated 850 people killed.

Chief Judge Ahmed Rifaat is expected not only to issue a verdict but also pass sentence on those who are convicted.

Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal and business associate Hussein Salem, who fled to Spain, are also on trial over an alleged bribe.

His two sons had already arrived at the courthouse earlier on Saturday, according to the official MENA news agency. (AFP) 

[UPDATE]The audience just started and Mubarak has been sentenced to life along with his minister of interior. Egyptian court acquits 2 sons of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak on corruption charges, scuffles breakout in court after verdicts announced 
 The father spends life in prison so his sons (free of all charges) can enjoy freedom and keep the money!
Anger in court after verdict. 

Drawing - Lucy [Part2]

This is my very first drawing! It represents Lucy from the famous Anime Elfen Lied, I'm planning to redraw her on a blank paper.

I dedicate this photo to my awesome friend Ghina Sh :)

Subscribe for more awesome and various content! 

(Click to Enlarge)

Alfa U-Chat

The minister said that he would announce officially new prices for mobile services, but he did not say a single word about them since he announced the decrease of the BlackBerry service price. Instead we witnessed a new service by Alfa Telecom which is as follow:

 -U-chat 17$:  200 SMS and 250 MB of mobile data and 60mins of calls

 -U-Chat 9$: 200SMS, 50MB of mobile data and 30mins of call

And in week end you are free to call one Alfa number (unlimited)

Out of Plan usage are billed for both services as follow: Local Call 0.6$/min; Local SMS 0.04$/SMS and 0.2$/MB

Note: Uchat clients are not allowed to benefit from the following services WAP, Pay as you go, friends and family, sunday promotion, "Ehkineh". 

These are the official plan. Now what they Don't tell you: The unlimited call during the week end are limited to 60 minutes (meaning that your call will drop every 60minutes) and you can only change Once per month

Some are even saying that the unlimited offer is limited to only 60 minutes to ALL the week ends (Need confirmation, this info is not 100% sure) 

A little comparison between the 3 prepaid offers that we have:
Normal Prepaid: 0.36$/min Call, 0.09$/SMS with a possibility to recharge whenever you want, the worst offer
Alfa Waffer Plan: This plan is special because it depends on the card you are buying 
  -9.09$ Card: 0.3$/min Call, 0.07$/SMS
  -15.15$ Card: 0.25$/min Call, 0.07$/SMS
  -27.27$ Card: 0.23$/min Call, 0.07$/SMS
Note that you can benefit from all the services except "Ehkineh", BUT you cannot recharge whenever you want, you have to wait for the end of the month. There is a 4$ Emergency Card where the call is billed 0.4$/min. If you are subscribed to the Friends & Family service and you made a call during off peak hours, the higher discounted rate is applied. (peak hour are quite useless, you are never calling someone at 10pm)
And also you cannot send $ to another number
And finally we have the Alfa U-Chat plan as stated above.
Concerning my opinion I find the best plan to be Alfa Waffer 27.27$, you can call for lower prices, and 27.27$ ought to be enough for a normal user like me. 
For the call lovers I suggest the postpaid plan or the U-Chat 17.5$ plan.






Stay tuned for it's MTC counterpart 

Racism 101

Lets begin with a little introduction. Yesterday I was on my way back home in a bus. This one was special because it has 2 doors to get out; one on the road and the other one on the safe side. There was this Asian worker (like many here in Lebanon) who was sitting near the door that lead to the road side with 2 other guy sitting next to her. She arrived at her destination and she was like "Sorry to bother you can I..." without letting her finish her sentence these guys were like "NO GET OUT THE OTHER WAY", the guy who was sitting next to me was also harsher because he said "[here there are some insult that I categorically refuse to write] there are a lot of you anyway so one less won't make any difference".
This phrase is what is driving me to write this article right now. This unacceptable! How can you have such a diminished value for a living human even if she is different?

Lebanese keep bragging about how open they are and that they love everybody etc etc... but who is this everybody? Americans? Germans? French? or simply people with MONEY? People who are reading this I'm very sorry to tell you that money is the only thing most Lebanese love about foreigner. They don't even view the poor Asian worker as a human because they don't have money.
Unfortunately this is the sad truth, Lebanon is a Racist country. For you who might be thinking that one example is not enough to say this I have a big load of example with me.
2 months ago there was this Ethiopian worker who always has been victim of violence by her greedy masters who where refusing to pay her her salary, who weren't even giving her enough food and were treating her like less than a human being. She tried to seek refuge in the Ethiopian embassy but she was caught in front of it by her boss who beat her on the road in front of everybody, insulted her and then he pushed her in the car with the help of a friend. And the guard that were posted in front of the Ethiopian embassy didn't even raise a hand to help this poor worker...
Public media painted this poor maid as a thief who was trying to escape; what kind of thief would seek refuge in an embassy? People aren't that dumb! This prove how corrupted public medias are (let's not talk about this because this is not the subject right now)
There a lot of cases where maid are being brutalized, tortured physically and mentally and there are some cases of sexual abuse.

I could talk a lot, write pages and even shout it nothing will change. Racism exist in high proportion in Lebanon, especially against these worker who only came here to work and earn some money for their family who are waiting for them. Some worker are lucky because they end up with kind employers, some are less because they end up with monster. Some even committed suicide because of horrible treatment. Their home country doesn't even lend a hand for them

Now a little word about the role of parents in this matter, parents teach their children to consider themselves superior to others. We can see a lot of children ordering maids around without even feeling sorry for her; children that are supposed to be innocent are corrupted by their sick parents from the beginning. [Thanks Mathild Haidar for this part]

People think about it, would like one day to be in the same situation as these maids? Would you like to be abused off just because you were born Lebanese? There is a phrase that my beloved parents taught me "Treat the other like you want to be treated".

Shame on those people who's brain is smaller than an ant, and thanks to my parents who raised me well.

I pray for a Lebanon without Racism and Corruption

Drawing - Lucy

Here is another of my drawing: Lucy from the anime Elfen Lied
PS: This was before I began to draw on blank sheets

(Click to Enlarge)

Drawing - Mei Misaki

I'm a huge anime lover and it is my hobby to draw them; so I will be posting photos from time to time about some of my artwork. 

First introducing Misaki Mei, from the horror anime Another (and I want to thank again Tarek Kob) 

(Click to enlarge)

Earthquake

As we all know on Friday the 11th of May, an earthquake of 5.5 magnitude struck Lebanon at 9:30 PM.
More precisely the earthquake struck offshore, here are the exact coordinate:

In my case I didn't feel a thing, nor anyone that I asked did.
In 2009 I studied all the geology of Lebanon for a big project and I know what I am talking about. So you better read what is coming because all that I will say are simple (yet scary) facts that shouldn't be hidden from you.

Geologically: Lebanon is on the a fault which is the limit of the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian plate, the post is also known as Yammouneh's fault (this image should make it clearer)

Every year these two plates slide 5mm each. So over the year we have tension that will accumulate and one beautiful day it will be released resulting in an tremendous earthquake that will ruin your day and change the Lebanese view (because in Lebanon everything is built according to well studied schemes, if you know what I mean). The thing is that there are lots of signs indicating that a huge earthquake is on it's way; for example in 2008, 720 earthquake were recorded with intensity varying from 1 to 5 on Richter's scale.

Here are some maps that I could get my hand on (these are exclusive's information that I doubt you will find elsewhere)

(click to enlarge)

Lebanese seismic history:
It is very big but I will write the most important one:
-525: Earthquake which destroyed Tyr and Saida
551: Earthquake which destroyed Beirut and caused fire that lasted for 2 months. and also caused a huge tsunami
1156-1159: A seismic crisis

There are a lot more but the most important one is the one that struck in 551.
Geophysicist who are studying this fault very closely, the earthquake that struck Beirut in 551 is repeating itself every 1500 years; do some math: 551+1500=2051
This means that dooms day (for Lebanon) is just a couple of years away.
70% of the Lebanese population is at risk. That's why we must take measures to warn the Lebanese population of the high risk they are under.

I will write about how we MUST react in case of earthquake in order to save a maximum of human lifes later

The Next Galaxy Unveiled

Today at 9PM the new Samsung phone was unveiled at a conference in London.

The Conference began with a quote "I want it to make life more comfortable" Eric Hdez - Mexico

There was an orchestra present for the musical effects in the room.

It was unveiled by Samsung's CEO: JK Shin

Here are it specs:
-Screen 4.8" Super Amoled HD (1280x720p)
-Digital Camera: 8MPX ultra fast with LED Flash
-Battery of 2100MAh
-8.6mm for 133g
-1.4GHz Exynos quad-core processor
-1GB of RAM
-Storage 16, 32 and 64GB extendable with an SD card
-Android 4.3




New functions: 

-A Siri like application but more developed: S Voice
8 languages available.

-Smart Stay:  utilizes facial recognition style software to keep the screen illuminated as long as users are looking at it.

The camera can instantly recognize your friends

Advanced sharing functions that utilizes Wifi or nfc
A dongle permitting you of viewing your phone on a TV screen
Evolution of TouchWiz with Natural UX

The Camera is ultra fast with "Best photo" function that can be found on Semi-SLR

Wireless Charger


It will be available the 29th of MAY

Telecom minister's surprise

The telecom minister has been telling us for about a week that on Monday 30th of April he will announce a "surprise" for us. Speculation has been going on and on about a price drop in 3G services or DSL:

I was a little bit disappointed by this "Surprise" because I was hoping for new 3G packs, it was only new blackberry services: "New Blackberry Offers: Instead of paying 27$ for 200MB => BB SOCIAL 200MB for 8$ | BB COMPLETE 200MB for 12$ | BIS 500MB for 24$" 
This is an "achievement", I mean a year ago blackberry users were paying 40$ for 100MB. 


Keep your hopes up, the minister, on his Twitter account, announced new 3G offers to be unveiled in 2weeks:

Stay Tuned for more upcoming updates!


Mobile companies just released the new offers on there website, here they are:


BlackBerry Social: With a capacity up to 200 MB , BlackBerry Social offers access to social networking applications, such as: Facebook®, Twitter®, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), and whatsApp, in addition to video streaming. (Notice the absence of email service AND instant messaging) 1.8$/Week+0.08$/MB


BlackBerry Complete: With a capacity up to 200 MB , subscribers can configure 1 external email account as well as access to social networking and instant messaging applications, such as: Facebook®, Twitter®, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Windows live messenger and Yahoo Messenger, in addition to video streaming. 2.8$/week+0.08$/MB


BlackBerry Prime: With a capacity up to 500 MB , configure up to 10 external email accounts in addition to Video streaming, access to social networking and instant messaging applications, such as: Facebook®, Twitter®, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Windows live messenger and Yahoo Messenger 5.6$/week+0.08$/MB


BlackBerry Prime+: With a capacity up to 1GB, configure up to 10 external email accounts in addition to Video streaming, access to social networking and instant messaging applications, such as: Facebook®, Twitter®, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Windows live messenger and Yahoo Messenger 9.8$/week+0.07$/MB

Beirut On Fire

I was studying like a normal university student when I feel like it is time I check Facebook. I open ad the first post that shows up is by Samer Karam who posted this an image of a big black smoke screen coming from Beirut. I will let the image speak for now and update this section as soon as I have more information

Image by Samer N.

Image by Samer Karam

[UPADTE 1] It seems to be a warehouse full of tire burning down


[UPDATE2] Now that thick smog over Beirut has faded into the invisibility of night, I turned to the evening news for some answers. Unfortunately they were few and far between as most stations buried the inferno story deep into their newscasts, if they even covered it at all.

Despite plenty of teasers of smoldering fire footage above, the actual report only lasted about 20 seconds. It was just a "read" i.e. no reporter was on the scene and the anchor provided some vague commentary with no indication of who, what, why, etc.

To be fair it was a busy news day with an explosion in Damascus and a reported arms shipment confiscated at the port of Beirut. But none of these stories took up that much time either. So where did the newscast go? To the ruling regime of course!


[UPDATE3] It has been confirmed to be a warehouse full of tires (since 1993 and still stocking until now) that was burning down yesterday afternoon in the Burj Hammoud district. The causes and the responsible of this ecological disaster seems to be until now unknown. Luckily there has been no collateral damage knowing that in Burj Hammoud there are a lot of fuel tanks. 

[UPDATE4] It seems that this fire was caused willingly to extract metal and sell it (Source: L'Orient Le Jour, Greenpeace)

Titanic 3D

Today I went to watch the famous Titanic in 3D. Although I've already watched it several times, it never gets old.
People all over the world (and especially the Internet) have been making a huge buzz about it to the point that I wanted to re-watch it on big screen!
I don't really like 3D because, except for James Cameron's Avatar, none of the movie in 3D I watched was worth it; I've never actually felt that I was in a 3D environment.

Lets get back to the Titanic, at first I was both skeptic  and eager to watch it. Skeptic because the movie is old and well  known, eager because I wanted to see how James Cameron's managed to turn a 2D movie in 3D and if it was worth doing so.
At first I was like "ok this is not bad" but when the Titanic set sail there we could see the full power of the 3D technology unleashed! There is no word that could describe how I felt, what I saw and the amazement at this very moment. I could feel how the whole theater was amazed, astonished.
Really James Cameron did some amazing work by reworking the whole movie in 3D, I can't imagine how hard it was for him and his team. They worked on every single picture of the movie. Lets do some math: 26 pictures per second, 1hour = 3600 secs, the movie takes approximately 3 hours; 3*3600*26=280 800 picture reworked and put in Three Dimensions!
Truly Titanic 3D is the a movie really worth watching again on the big screen and I recommend you to do so.

Now about the feeling it left on me, I found myself wondering what would I have done if I were on board. Would I have been on first class or steerage? Would I have bribed my way to a seat on the lifeboats? If I were J. Bruce Ismay of the White Star Line would I have jumped ship and lived with disgrace (as he did) or stayed on-board and died with dignity? If I were on a lifeboat, would I have gone back to help those struggling to stay alive in the freezing water? Or would I have been too fearful for my own life to care about those poor helpless souls? If I lived, how do I overcome such a traumatic and near-death experience? So many ifs…

But the ultimate questions that lingered on my mind after I left the cinema were these: How much has changed in our social and moral fibers since the Titanic? Have we evolved? How many of us would commit selfless acts of bravery and heroism in the face of calamity? Or would we just default to self-survival mode?

They say the best movies are those that hold a mirror to our faces. Those that lead us to question and reflect on our own lives in relation to what is on the screen. Titanic made me peel away from the internet, my mobile phone to think, to reflect and to weigh my own values. If we were to go by the aforementioned measuring stick on what makes a good movie, then yes Titanic the movie is a success on and off the box office.